Rangers give ballet a spin

At 6ft 2ins and 16 stone, Danny Shittu is an imposing sight for any opponent, but yesterday he was put in the shade by a sugar plum fairy.

To celebrate a bizarre new link-up between Queens Park Rangers and the English National Ballet, the 23-year-old defender posed for a photo with prima ballerina Sarah McIlroy. It was a case of a Shittu under a tutu.

However, this is "no tutu-wearing gimmick", according to the doyens of the Kensington-based dance troupe who insist they are serious about the mutual fitness benefits of working with a football club.

The ballet approached Rangers last month with the idea of swapping training techniques and manager Ian Holloway was delighted for his players to get involved.

He said: "Football can be very tedious at times. You say the same things over and over again. I'm constantly looking at different ways to gain more knowledge."

Yesterday, the squad turned up for training only to be told they were going on a mystery excursion.

To the players' surprise, their minibus pulled up at the English National Ballet's headquarters where they were put through their paces by strength and conditioning instructor Paul Thacker.

In a class with some of the company's top ballerinas, the players went through a series of stretches and floor exercises.

Shittu said: "The first reaction was 'Ballet? People are going to laugh at us'. But we really enjoyed it, we've definitely taken something from the stretches and the techniques we learned can only help us with our football."

Holloway admitted he kept the trip secret for fear of the non-macho stigma attached to ballet dancing. He said: "You get a few scoffers who like doing what they normally do and they don't like changing.

"What we wanted to do was surprise them. I've taken them tenpin bowling when they thought they were going to train.

"When you look at how flexible ballerinas are, it can only help us."

More training sessions are planned and the players have been invited to the Hammersmith Apollo for the ballet's Christmas production of Cinderella.

Asked if he thought footballers would enjoy the ballet, Jim Fletcher, the company's head of pubic relations, said: "I am sure these people are much more sophisticated than the public give them credit for. Look at Emmanuel Petit, he is never away from the opera house."

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